Archive for June, 2009

Printers are fairly boring, but HP is looking to shake things up with the “world’s first web-connected printer.” The Photosmart Premium features a 4.33-inch front panel dubbed the Touchsmart Web, a touchscreen interface with several bundled, online apps to accommodate all of your paper-friendly tasks.

It even has a full-on HD Apps Studio just in case downloading new apps on your printer really takes off. The API’s being made open for the entire realm of developers, but it remains to be seen if the interest is there. It will cost you $399.

Looks like TiVo is trying to muscle their way into several providers, having gotten a victory out of EchoStar in that DVR patent lawsuit. It’s in talks to bring its service to Time Warner Cable, and according to sources, the endgame is to collect royalties from every pay-TV provider in the US.

That might sound arrogant, or even bullying, but the patents have withstood nearly every legal challenge EchoStar could throw at them, so TiVo is pretty confidant. It has license agreements with Comcast and DirecTV to use as leverage in negotiations too.

At this weekend’s World Hobby Fair, Nintendo had the blue Wiimote and Nunchuk on display, to promote Wii Sports Resort. They also were showing off that Black Wii we told you about earlier this month.

The Nunchuk has always been shiny on top and matte on bottom, but it’s much more noticeable, in a good way, on the black version. Even the fugly Wiimote jacket looks cool in matte black. The Classic Controller Pro looks downright awesome in shiny black plastic. This Wii items make the console look much more serious.

If you thought that Apple was having a hard time unloading all of those new 3G S units, you can rest easy. The gang at Cupertino have issued some stats that will make Apple fans breath a collective sigh of relief.

Those stats show that they’ve managed to move a million iPhone 3G S units over the weekend. That’s right, as usual, like lemmings to a proverbial cliff, tons of buyers flooded Apple’s stores for the new smartphone. It’s all looking great for Apple.

We are extending this one until Friday, so don’t miss your chance. You have until this Friday June 26th to win this awesome Star Trek Engineering Uniform t-shirt. While over at our Robot site Botropolis, you can win a Pimp Bender T-Shirt.

As for the Trek shirts, we have a total of 3 in size L. So what do you have to do to win one? All you have to do is comment here. Follow the link. Don’t comment on this post. Since you guys are having trouble coming up with a funny poem/haiku, any comment will do. On Friday we will announce the winners.

Seagate’s giving its FreeAgent Go drives a new 640GB capacity. It may not be the first external to cross the 500GB threshold, but it’s certainly one of the slimmer ones, physically. Other than that, there’s nothing too special here.

It’s still the standard USB-connected with up to 480Mbps transfer with multiple color options. We don’t have any info on pricing or availability, but since Seagate’s posting promotional materials on its main site, it won’t be long.

Stealth’s newest small form factor PC, the WPC-500F has specs not all that different from your typical netbook, but the most interesting feature is the ability to have water poured on them like in Flashdance. You can order the waterproof / water resistant machine right now.

Prices start at $1,995 and they are shipping in early July. Some specs include a 1.6GHz Intel Atom 330, integrated graphics, 2GB RAM, 80GB HDD with options for SSD, no optical bay, no WiFi, and Windows XP.

As far as looks, this iPhone 3G knockoff is dead on, even featuring an OS X-inspired interface. It’s the best iPhone clone we’ve seen yet. Which makes us kinda proud of these knockoff artists. It shows that they actually can do decent work.

On the inside, you’ll find a 400-MHz Samsung CPU, 4GB of memory, and a 3.5-inch touch screen. Buy one for someone you love today. Like your grandma. She will never know, but still think she’s hip actually owning an iPhone 3G like all of those crazy kids.

The economy has been very tough on many technology companies. Some of the largest companies in the industry have been hit hard and forced to lay off workers and report losses. Cellular infrastructure provider Nortel was forced into bankruptcy by the global economy.

Nokia has announced that it has entered into an agreement with Nortel to buy the firm’s CDMA and LTE holdings. The purchase will allow Nokia to expand its infrastructure presence in North America. Nokia says that the purchase will cost it $650 million.

T-Mobile has a new mobile phone that it is offering to its customers called the myTouch 3G. The handset features an interesting software offering that makes it great for users looking for information about their local surroundings.

The application is called Sherpa and is a local discovery app that learns what a user’s favorite types of locations are as it is used. That means that over time if a person searchers for more restaurants than retail stores, the application will return restaurant results rather than shopping.

I am a big fan of digital photo frames and we have several of them around our house. I have seen several portable frames over the years with small screens and batteries that allow people to carry photos with them on the go to show off.

Kodak has announced a new portable battery powered digital photo frame called the S730. The frame isn’t really intended to go on the road with you, but to allow you to unplug the device and pass it around at family functions.

The iPhone 3G and the new 3G S mobile phones are slick devices that are very popular. They both have integrated GPS capabilities, but Apple really didn’t go all out to take advantage of the navigation capabilities of the device.

Navigon has announced a new App that is available now in Europe and will be available soon in the U.S. called MobileNavigator for the iPhone. The app turns the iPhone into a fully functional portable navigation device.

Yes, Potty Putter makes it okay to play a game of miniature golf with your pants around your ankles, while on the john. All I can say is, if you need so much practice that you have to putt while taking a dump, you should probably find another hobby.

I guess the restroom isn’t so restful anymore. After you’ve made your deposit, you may as well go full out and pee in the Uroclub. You’ll get the Putting green, 2 golf balls, Flag stick, Putter and a “Do Not Disturb” sign for your practice sessions.

This LED Nessie Table Lamp was recently spotted. Skeptics will tell you that it doesn’t exist, but the picture is proof enough for me. It’s completely posable and you can point it in just about any way you want. It runs on 4 AA batteries so you can take it with you anywhere or give it to the kids as a night-light to install terror in them.

Just squeeze its head to turn it on or to switch on the multicoloured LEDs. It also comes in a range of patterns, including the rare leopard print Nessie. Only $34.85. It has a price, which is proof that it exists.

Few people play with more balls than Golfers. And Golfers love them some accessories that look just like the balls they play with. While I can’t tell you which company makes the biggest or smoothest, or most dimpled balls, I can tell you that this golf ball is a flash drive.

This 1GB Golf ball USB Drive looks just like a real golf ball. Only smaller. It’s about half the size. Golfers will love it. While professional Golfers will hate it as it just reminds them of their day job.